DREAMGIRLS casting news? Beyonce as Effie?????? — Page 3

I saw Frenchie twice last year at a club in NYC and she sang "And I'm Telling You" both times as well as "I Am Changing." She has the chops for the role but she'd be my third choice.

OK a compromise is in order. I agree that Frenchie is a helluva better choice than Beyonce for the part of "Effie". But if we must go to Idolandia, then I stand resolutely behind Jennifer Hudson. She sings circles around Frenchie, has little acting experience, and is still "malleable". I personally think that an "unknown" would work best in that part as an added element of surprise. Too many theatres goers are predisposed to dislike ACTRESS/SINGER X for sundry reasons.

---

Well once Beyonce is tapped to play Deena, then the movie will go straight to hell.

Inspired casting! Inspired casting!
I hope and pray that they search high and low for the talent that is needed. I feel there has to be someone who is raw but still can be polished for the role of Effie. A BIG NAME is not in the cards for her. Look at Jennifer Holliday (As I feel she is the best Effie EVER!)-- She was a total unknown when the show opened. And look at what happened to her. Now she is not so well known anymore but she did win Grammys and a Tony and so much recognition. But I think they need to keep the casting some what quiet. Cast Deena with a name and make Jimmy a name too.... but other then that make them not so well known. It would make all the difference in the world. This could bring a whole new crowd into the movies.

Queen Latifah is playing Effie lol

Where you at TheTruth i was surprised to not see ur name.

The thing about IMDB:

ANYONE can edit movie information. I, myself, have submitted character additions/corrections to HOOK and to the latest PETER PAN film. Changes are not instant - as they do have editors who check up on the info, but even still, they will add it if they think it is correct.

---

But the question now is: can Jennifer still sing it like she used to? The part all but destroyed her pipes for a period of time.

---

Justice,

You're right with all you're points (and thank you for emphasizing that Effie need not be overweight -- some of the best Effies I ever saw were not).

I do wonder, though if, in the movie, Effie "needs" to be played by a "name." There is a fairly large pool of R&B singers who can act and African-American actors who can sing who they could draw from to cast Deena, Lorrell, Michelle, Curtis, Jimmy, Marty, C.C. et al (from Beyonce to Jamie Foxx to Taye Diggs to Jesse L Martin et al .....). If they get 4 or 5 names for those parts, they can easily cast an unknown or lesser known singer for Effie, which might make sense. Aside from Kelly Price and a couple of the AI people, there simply aren't many "names" who can handle the demands of playing Effie. As Jennifer Holliday herself discovered in the 80s, the pop market STILL is not terribly interested in that sort of virtuosic gospel voice and very few (since the heyday of Aretha, Patti, Gladys, Chaka and a few others in the 60s and 70s) have become stars and proven to be consistent hitmakers in the last 20+ years.

There are great voices out there (beyond the AI kids) and I personally would love it if they found some 20 year old unknown who's presently tearing up some baptist/pentacostal church somewhere and made her into a star with this movie. It would make it thrilling and exciting to us who remember that sense of discovery when Jennifer Holliday seemed to come out of nowhere and turned Broadway on its ear in 1981 (although, I had seen her in "Your Arms Too Short To Box WIth God" the year before and thought she had one of the greatest voices I'd ever heard) to witness another "star is born" story with the movie.

And, also let me add, while Jennifer is not the singer she was 20+ years ago, she can still sing the crap out of Effie on stage as she proved in Atlanta last year. However, at 43, good as she looks, she can't convincingly pull of playing a 17 year old on film (on stage is perhaps another matter). No one has prayed to see that woman get to repeat her role in a movie version of Dreamgirls for the last 20+ years more than I have, but as much as it pains me to say it, it's too late now. Time for someone else to take on Effie and make her their own.

---

Much as I adore Sam Jackson in most things, at 56, he's more than a wee bit too old to play ......... well, anything in a Dreamgirls movie.

Jimmy Early is supposed to be a dynamic James Brown/Jackie Wilson - esque star who in addition to being a great singer, must be an electrifying dancer and stage performer -- I'm sure Jackson himself would deem the role's demands to be far beyond anything he'd even want to attempt at this point in his life/career (not to mention he's old enough to be the father of whoever ends up being cast as the Dreams).

---

oh. my. all this drama over a blurb in IMDB?!!!
everyone knows they're unreliable. i'll believe it when i read it in Variety.

and yes, bjivie2, DREAMGIRLS originally just started out as the story of 3 friends and their trials and tribulations, but if you actually think that it's not a veiled musical based on the supremes then you're in major denial.

yes, the author's injected that little line about "the supremes" in the opening of act I, but that was to throw "the scent off". historically speaking "the supremes" shouldn't have even been mentioned within the context of that scene, which takes place in 1962 because they were still "the primettes" then and no one knew who they were.

on the other hand fact and fiction are too close to home:

Berry Gordy, Jr. = Curtis Taylor, Jr.

Diana Ross = Deena Jones

The Primettes become The Supremes and later Diana Ross and the Supremes = The Dreamettes become The Dreams and later Deena Jones and the Dreams

Effie Melody White, in some ways mirrors real life Supreme Florence Ballard. Effie, in the musical has a romantic relationship with Curtis. Curtis' attention later shifts to Deena as his ambitions to cross-over The Dreams becomes a priority. Effie becomes increasingly angry, bitter and resentful because not only has Deena replaced her as the lead in the group but she's also replaced her in Curtis' heart, which eventually causes friction and gets Effie ousted from the group.
Although Florence Ballard never had a relationship with Berry Gordy, Jr. she did become increasingly angry, bitter and resentful that Diana Ross was given the lead spot in The Supremes, this eventually led her to drink, gain weight, miss performances which gave way to her being dismissed from the group and replaced.

it is just too obvious where the author's were getting their material from.

the show's ideas are many: the struggle for blacks to gain acceptance and acheive success in the civil rights era is just one of them and the story of those three girls is used to propel that story and those ideas.

Updated On: 1/22/05 at 08:59 AM

Here's an article about Sheryl Lee Ralph and her upcoming marriage. She talks a little about the Dreamgirls movie. Congrats, Sheryl Lee!


P.S. Did anybody see Sheryl Lee and Phylicia Rashad on Patti Labelle's show? It was really fun to see them together in a relaxed setting.

Scroll down to the blurb about Sheryl Lee Ralph

Sheryl Lee Ralph talks about upcoming marriage and Dreamgirls movie

TonyaFantastic,

You crack my sh*t up!

---